Once again, it’s time for my monthly descent into TMI land, to discuss progress in my ongoing quest to get back into shape. It’s been a bit of a mixed bag this month – a couple of colds, Thanksgiving, and moving into our new (and hopefully last!) house have wreaked havoc on my workout schedule. […]
When I started hiring, I used to look for the 10x programmers, the rockstars, the embarrassingly named “ninjas” (I blame you for starting the trend, Srinija). I quickly learned that these were impossible to hire – they looked exactly like every other “good” programmer, until one day you realized that they’d significantly improved performance by rearranging […]
“Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are […]
Regular readers of the blog will know that I’ve been trying a variety of experiments over the past year in order to lose weight. Things were going slowly until suddenly, in late July, I started working out 5-6 times a week. This wasn’t by design – without really thinking about it too much, I just started […]
I recently wrote a post about negative feedback, and how useful it was to learn ways in which you could improve. By itself, of course, constant negative feedback would be incredibly depressing. We also need to know when we’re doing well. This sounds trite, and yet it’s the rare manager who consistently gives positive feedback. I remember […]
In a strong engineering organization, there are typically two main technical leadership tracks. Different companies have different names for them, and their responsibilities can sometimes overlap, but for the sake of this discussion let’s call them “leads” and “managers.” The lead is the alpha nerd – this is the engineer who guides the team technically, […]
I had a conversation with a coworker a while back, who asserted that every manager would take out his bad mood on his direct reports. This was said without rancor, challenge, or apology – it was stated as an axiomatic principle, in the same tone of voice that might convey a lack of interest in […]
There appears to be a little confusion about what the Internet is, why it exists, and its rules of use. So, as a public service, I offer the following gentle reminder. The internet is not a safe playground. It is a dark, dangerous, occasionally beautiful and sometimes fatal window into the dreams and nightmares of […]
So, it’s time again for my monthly digression from technical and management issues, in which I report on my attempt to lose weight, get back into shape, and generally be healthier in a long-term, sustainable way. Every month since the beginning of the year I’ve either added a new exercise requirement, or a new limitation on unhealthy […]
I was talking with a coworker recently, who described how bad design just pisses him off. He can’t stop his brain from picking an app apart and figuring out what does and doesn’t work. Bad design offends him, as though someone had intentionally decided to seed their lawn with broken glass. The world is a complicated, busy […]
Dan Dreams of Coding 